Collective Bargaining

The decision to increase the gross minimum wage up to RON 1,250 (280 euro), starting 1 May 2016, has not been welcomed by the IMF. According to the fund representative, the minimum wage increases faster than labour productivity, which will affect the local companies' competitiveness, discourages investments, and curves the employees' desire to improve. The IMF representative said that the country's minimum wage went above the EU average after the recent increase in May.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/imf-minimum-wage-increases .

The national labour market pact or so-called Competitiveness Pact was signed on the evening of 14 June. Most trade unions endorsed the Pact and it now covers 86.5 percent of the wage and salary earners. It has been the main issue in social politics for more than a year. The government was determined to cut costs for employers and forced trade unions to accept a deal that makes everyone work 24 hours more a year for the existing pay rates. There will be no pay rises for one year. The Pact includes further weakening of established working arrangements and benefits, like slicing 30% off the holiday bonus for workers in the public sector.
English: http://www.jhl.fi/portal/en .

Scandinavian airline SAS had to cancel a majority of its Swedish and European flights after pilots rejected an improved pay offer and their strike pushed into a fourth day. The strike began after the pilots based in Stockholm rejected the airline's offer of a 2.2 percent wage increase, insisting on a hike of 3.5 percent, and attempts by a mediator to broker a deal failed. Shortly after, the parties could agree on a new collective bargaining agreement and all flights were resumed. The deal to end the strike includes a 2.2 percent pay increase and a new pay scale for young pilots. They now will have much better salaries.
English: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2016/Jun-14/356990-swedish-sas-pilots .

Ukrainians willing to work in Poland are frequently cheated by both Ukrainian and Polish employers. Therefore, workers have established a trade union, assisted by their Polish colleagues. Key objectives are to improve working conditions and try to increase salaries for Ukrainian migrant workers. Around one million Ukrainians are employed in Poland. The aim is equal pay from 2017.
English: http://uatoday.tv/society/ukrainian-workers-trade-union-set-up-in-warsaw .
http://www.thenews.pl/1/6/Artykul/255213,Polish-labor-unions-want-to-set-up-organization .

Close to 100 000 employees in the state-owned health care sector will receive major pay rises under an agreement signed by the government, the trade unions and the chambers representing medical professions. Gross basic wages of specialist doctors and hospital-based specialist pharmacists will increase by HUF 107 000 (342 euro) from September 2016 and a further HUF 100 000 (320 euro) from 1 November 2017. Resident doctors' basic wage will increase by HUF 50 000 (160 euro) from November. As for health care workers, basic wages will increase by an average of 26.5 percent this year, 12 percent from November 2017 and a further 8 percent in November 2018 and November 2019.
English: http://hungarytoday.hu/news/government-health-care-workers-wages-double-2019 .

A pay rise of 25% could be on the way for around 124,000 workers on the minimum wage. Trade unions have argued strongly at government level that the current minimum wage needs to change to a `living wage', with a hefty hike in the rate of pay. There are suggestions that the Low Pay Commission could recommend a pay increase of 25% for minimum wage workers when it reports to government in July 2016. If agreed, this would bring the national minimum wage of €9.15 to €11.50 per hour, by the end of 2017. Wage hikes recommended by the Low Pay Commission, if agreed, are likely to take effect from this year's budget. But the latest proposal has sparked outrage from employers who believe there is no justification with zero rate inflation. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has argued strongly for the 25% increase to happen by the end of 2017. The union is not alone in calling for a minimum wage increase; it has called in support from over 130 TDs, Senators and MEPs, and 171 councillors. A proposal to ensure that workers would earn at least €11.75 per hour is already in existence, but it would not be introduced until Budget 2018.
English: http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/25-pay-rise-could-way .

Museum workers in Wales have voted to accept a deal aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over pay. Members of the Public and Commercial Services union at National Museum Wales, who have been on indefinite strike, backed the agreement by almost four to one. At the end of April 2016, the PCS union, which represents National Museum Wales staff, including those at the National Wool Museum in Drefach Felindre, escalated its dispute over the removal of extra payments for weekend working by announcing it would start an indefinite strike. The union claimed that some workers were paid a low wage and yet still work 35 weekends a year. The row flared over allowances for working weekends and bank holidays. Industrial action will now end, and Wales's national museums will reopen fully to the public over the coming days.
English: http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2016-06-25/welsh-museum-workers-reach .

The Government adopted an emergency ordinance that increases the salaries of the public sector employees. About 650,000 people will benefit from this law, and the budget impact amounts to 193 million euro for 2016 and 577 million euro in 2017. The emergency ordinance tries to remove the inequalities in the public sector wage system. A part of the law's provisions will enter into force starting August 1, 2016, whereas the whole salary grid will be applied in December 2017.
English: http://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-government-adopts-ordinance .

At its Congress 2016, held in Liverpool from 1-3 June, the University and College Union (UCU) set out the next steps in its dispute with university employers over pay. The trade union members working in higher education voted to escalate their action with a marking and setting-of-work boycott in the autumn term, if the dispute has not been settled. The dispute arose following a pay offer of 1.1 percent from the universities' employers.
English: https://www.ei-ie.org/en/news .

After 19 hours of tense negotiations there was hope that the rail strikes would be called off. SNCF workers have been striking partly in opposition to the labour reforms but also and chiefly in a bid to improve their own working conditions. Following the lengthy negotiations an agreement was drawn up on the thorny issue of the working week, which SNCF hopes will be signed by strikers as soon as possible.
English: http://www.thelocal.fr/20160607/hopes-raised-that-french-rail-strikes .